Includes bibliographical references (p. [271]-277) and index

"George W. Bush's failure to provide Iraqis with the democracy and security he promised his invasion would give them has become undeniable, and one question dominates Washington and London: why? In this new book, journalist Jonathan Steele provides a compelling challenge to the conventional wisdom that the problem was one of inadequate planning. Bush and Tony Blair, he argues, were defeated from the day they decided to occupy the country. Iraq had had enough of foreign armies. Steele describes the memories of centuries of humiliations that have scarred the Iraqi national psyche, creating a powerful and deeply felt nationalism. Drawing on his unique access to senior Western policymakers, Steele shows how the key players in the occupying coalition failed to inform themselves about his smouldering backhistory of resentment and suspicion, or even to grasp the basic mindset of the people they were attempting to rule, neatly summarized by a young man he meets in Fallujah: "We are Iraqis. Our dignity is more important than our lives.""--BOOK JACKET

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